Overview of Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne

Evangelical preacher. Born in Edinburgh, McCheyne was educated at the High School and University in that city, studying Divinity under the Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers (1780 - 1847). After briefly serving as Assistant Minister at Larbert, McCheyne took charge of St. Peter's Church in the Sinderins district of W Dundee. This was a challenging parish, comprising a poor congregation working in Dundee's rapidly expanding jute mills. McCheyne gained respect for his evangelical preaching and extensive pastoral care.

He was appointed to a committee tasked with a mission to the Jews. In 1839, he spent six months in the Holy Land, accompanied by other members of the committee including his friend Rev. Andrew Bonar (1810-92). This expedition was the subject of regular of reports in the press and gave rise to a report Narrative of a mission of inquiry to the Jews From the Church of Scotland, published in 1842. He was ready to take a key role in the critical General Assembly of 1843 which brought about the Disruption, but contracted typhus and died. Such was his popularity that six-thousand people attended his funeral.

In 1844, Bonar wrote an appreciation of his friend The Memoir and Remains of Rev R. M. M'Cheyne, which was regarded as a work of great spirituality and sold hundreds of thousands of copies. McCheyne's sermons are preserved in New College Library (Edinburgh) and his name is remembered in the McCheyne Memorial Church in Dundee (opened 1871, but which closed in 1999).